Saturday, February 24, 2007

flames v. sharks: pregame (aka: blood in the water)

the current flames are like the 06 men's canadian olympic hockey team. i realize it's a bit over-the-top to compare an elite hockey country's all-stars to our present roster, but hear me out.

can you recall (haha, how can you not ?) how absolutely AGONIZING it was to know without question that the team was fully capable of gold, when their on-ice play really stunk up the joint ? every pass was pitiful, every save gave up huge rebounds, every check was mediocre, and what shots there were (did we shoot ever ? i forget...) were directed straight at the goalie, not towards any bit of open net. i rememeber fidgeting and pacing, knowing long before the game was over that we didn't have the passion to win it...

at the time, i placed blame solely on two people:1. pat quinn for not dressing any/all of staal, spezza, and especially dan boyle.2. pronger for playing with a broken foot.

as it translates to our current cast of red-hot losers, i feel i should place similar blame: on the coaching staff, for not finding the right mix of guys to put on the ice, and on any player not healthy enough to be out there. sure, i realize that it's the "stretch" and there will be guys playing with injuries. but the flames are a deep club. if warrener is nursing a bad hand, play zyuzin AND giordano for a night. hell, if iggy's not 100% let's try giving HIM the game off. sutter would. and there's a bunch of kids on the farm that would play their little hearts out in his stead.

in october when we were sucking, all we needed was a little emotional jumpstart from a guy really fucking trying to make the team: brandon prust, tomi mäki, dustin boyd, eric godard and, (of course) davey moss all brought that spark. so i don't understand why playfair et al. insist on mixing-and-matching current roster guys on lines that are clearly emotionally drained.

*sigh* but no callups for tonight's game. which means sharks bite first and we'll never claw back. fish win 4-1: marleau, michalek, and vlasic with two (in attempt to prove he's worth more than kipps). huselius with the lone marker for the flaming losers. :)

[completely off topic but i had to share: have you heard the new nickname for the sens' goalie: sugar ray emery. amaaaaazing...]

You're right. Quinn and friends wouldn't change anything because they were too busy sticking out their chests after winning in Utah and at WC06. What excuse does Playfair have for refusing to change anything? The Saint John Flames' 2001 Calder Cup?

quinn was a fan of the ol' boys, as i'm sure you're aware (as a toronto guy). so the young players never saw game ice. like, ever... we're talking leafs AND worlds. looks like playfair may be doing the same as we head towards spring. seriously, why is nobody else asking where the hell is dustin boyd ?????